The U.S. Navy Nimitz class supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its Provider Strike Group on January 20 accomplished a transit by the Malacca Strait, after prematurely concluding operations within the seventh Fleet space of operations, notably within the South China Sea, to redirect in direction of the fifth Fleet space within the Center East. The redirection of the service group represents a part of a wider U.S.-led army buildup towards Iran, which has additionally included redeployments of Army and Air Pressure property to the Center East, and withdrawals of property from bases which are doubtlessly susceptible to retaliation. Ought to the USA provoke a brand new assault on Iran, the Abraham Lincoln’s deployment of Marine CorpsF-35C fifth era fighters might notably useful.
The Abraham Lincoln is the primary plane service to function with Marine F-35C fighters, that are deployed below Marine Fighter Assault Squadron 314. The squadron was in late 2024 confirmed to be the primary to utilise the F-35C in fight, specifically to strike Ansurullah Coalition positions in Yemen. Latest footage has confirmed F-35Cs launching and touchdown on Lincoln’s flight deck throughout operations within the South China Sea in January 2026, with the plane being notably prized within the area attributable to their broadly peer stage capabilities to Chinese language fifth era fighters such because the J-20 and J-35. The F-35 was developed with a main deal with having the ability to counter networks of superior ground-based air defence programs, which within the case of Iran represents the first problem to fighter items within the occasion of battle.
The U.S. Marine Corps is the one service within the U.S. Armed Forces that operates two variants of the F-35, with the F-35B having been procured to function from amphibious assault ships changing the Harrier II, which require quick takeoff and vertical touchdown capabilities, whereas the F-35C was developed to function from the U.S. Navy’s supercarriers changing the F-18C/D fighters. The F-35C has a really considerably better fight potential than the F-35B, combining better manoeuvrability, giant weapons bays, and a for much longer vary, with decrease upkeep wants and sustainment prices. The Marine Corps in early 2025 decreased deliberate F-35B procurements by 21 % to reallocate funding to procuring the F-35C, more and more the deliberate fleet from 67 to 140 plane, which can have mirrored dissatisfaction with the F-35B’s capabilities when conducting service operations and Expeditionary Superior Base Operations.
Though the F-35 integrates a very highly effective digital warfare suite and a passive sensor array, which optimise it to counter superior air defence networks, the fighter’s potential to contribute to air defence suppression operations towards Iran been delivered to query attributable to excessive delays bringing capabilities to the Block 4 customary. With out this, the fighters lack entry to any air-to-surface missiles, together with the AGM-88G anti-radiation missile developed particularly to destroy air defence programs. Israeli Air Pressure officers have indicated that F-35s taking part in assaults on Iran in June 2025 accordingly primarily served as intelligence assortment platforms which shared information with fourth era fighters to extend situational consciousness. It stays extremely doable that Marine F-35Cs would equally be replied on to assist different components of the USS Abraham Lincoln’s service air wing, particularly its E/A-18G air defence suppression plane, moderately than straight launching kinetic assaults.
